it was introduced into the garden of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society about 1826 and its first discovery 
was made by Mr. David Douglas, somewhere in North- 
west America, probably in Oregon or in Washington, 
though the precise locality in which it was originally 
gathered can no longer be traced with certainty. There 
are two specimens of Aibes niveum in the herbarium 
at Kew which are attributed to Douglas. One of these 
is written up as “Hort. Soc. Ribes like irriguum,” 
and is noted as “drawn for Bot. Reg.,” so that it 
is probably from a plant raised from seed received 
from Douglas. The other bears the legend ‘117 Ribes 
triflorum, August 5, 1834. Woods on banks of Columbia.” 
But the label is not in the handwriting of Douglas, and 
if the date be correct the specimen cannot be connected 
with this distinguished collector who was killed in the 
Sandwich Islands on 12 June, 1834. It is, however, 
possible that A. nivewm may have been one of the 
“interesting species of Ailes’? mentioned by Douglas in 
his Journal (p. 60), and if so it came from “the moun- 
tain on the south side of the river’ —the Columbia— 
in the neighbourhood of the Grand Rapids, where he 
collected in the early part of September, 1825. The 
whole of the remaining references by Douglas to Liles, 
and these are numerous in his Journal, appear to be 
excluded for various reasons which it is not necessary 
to detail. The area occupied by the species extends 
throughout Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, where it is 
found at altitudes up to 3,000 feet. It was in America 
at first confused with R. gracile, Michx, an eastern species 
first observed in Tennessee, whence it extends to Illinois, 
Kansas, and Texas. J. niveum is interesting as one of 
the few Gooseberries in which the flowers are white. It 
is also one of the most ornamental. It is easily grown 
in any soil of moderate quality and is readily propagated 
by cuttings. It has been grown at Kew for at least 
three quarters of a century and is perfectly hardy. The 
fruits are edible and well-flavoured when cooked. 
Description.—Shrub, 10 ft. high, twigs casually armed with usually 1-3 
stoutish prickles about 4 in. long, or unarmed; stout suckers rarely sparingly 
prickly, Buds oblong, + in. long; outer bud-scales somewhat leathery, 
brown, triangular-ovate, rather acute; inner scales scarious, elongated, pale- 
